Insulator



Patented Mar. 23, 1948 UNITED'STATES PATENT OFFICE INSULATOR Paul A.Schmidt, near Earlville, Ill.

Application October 22, 1945, Serial No. 623,678

6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to insulators and more particularly to insulatorsfor use with electric fences.

In the use of electric fences on farms, it is frequently desirable tomove either the entire fence or to move the strands on the supports,such as fence posts, to change the elevation thereof. For a satisfactoryinsulator it is, therefore, necessary that the insulator can be easilyand quickly attached to and detached from both the strands of wire andthe post. It is one of the objects of the present invention to providean insulator possessing these characteristics.

Another object is to provide an insulator which can be attached to anddetached from both the wire and the post without the use of tools orspecial attaching devices.

Still another object is to provide an insulator which will support astrand of wire without requiring bending or twisting of the wire.

A further object is to provide an insulator which is extremely simpleand inexpensive to manufacture.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will be morereadily apparent from the following description when read in connectionwith the accompanying drawing, in which I Figure 1 is a partialperspective view illustrating an insulator embodying the inventionattached to a fence post;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the insulator block;

Figure 3 is an elevation of the insulator block looking from the rightof Figure 2;

Figure l is a perspective View of the mounting wire; and

Figure 5 is a central section through an insulator and a post on whichit is mounted.

The insulator of the invention maybe attached to any conventionalsupport such as a standard metal fence post it formed of an L-sect-ionbeam having a plurality of spaced slots H in one of its flanges. Theposts may be supported in the ground in any desired manner at regularlspaced intervals to carry one or more strands of charged wireillustrated as a strand of conventional barbed Wire l2.

The strand I2 is supported on the post by a block l3 of insulatingmaterial, such as porcelain, molded plastic or the like. The block isformed with a central opening it therethrough to receive the strand [2and of a size substantially larger than the strand to permit easypassage of the barbs on the strand. To facilitate drawing the strandthrough the opening, the ends of the opening are preferably flared orrounded, as indicated at 15, so that the barbs on the wire will slidefreely through the opening.

To insert the strand of wire in the opening, a slot I6 is formed in oneside of the block and preferably lies at an acute angle to the axis ofthe opening. With this construction, the Wire can be passed through theslot into the opening and the block can then be turned to bring the axisof the opening parallel to the wire so that the wire cannot jump outthrough the slot.

To support the block on the post, the block is formed throughout atleast all of its periphery, except the flat side in which the slot It isformed, with a groove 11. A mounting wire 23 bent into a general U-shapefits into the groove H and is of such a length that its ends willproject beyond the fiat side of the block in which the groove [6 isformed. The ends of the wire i8 are bent up into hooks i9 and is facingin the same direction. Preferably, the hook 23 extends slightly furtherbeyond the edge of the block than the hook [9 for a purpose to appearlater.

In mounting the block on a fence post of the type illustrated, the hooki9 is projected through one of the openings ii and the block is thenslid up so that the hook I 9 will engage the inner face of the post. Itwill be observed that the space between the end portions of the wire itwhere they project beyond the block is substantially equal to thedistance between adjacent ends of a pair of openings H so that when theblock is slid up as described, the hook 2d extend through another of theopenings ii. Engagement of the wire [8 with the end of the lastmentioned opening prevents the block from sliding down and maintains thehook is in engagement with the inner face of the post.

When the hook 26 is extended through the opening in the post, itprojects beyond the inner face of the post a sufificient distance toreceive a wire fastening. While no particular form of wire fastening isrequired, a convenient and inexpensive fastening which is readilyavailable is a, conventional wire staple 2!. Such a staple may be hookedover the hook 29 to engage the inner face of the post and to prevent thehook 2 3 from being withdrawn through the post.

With the insulator installed on the post and the staple 25 in place, asshown, it will be seen that the insulator is rigidly supported on thepost and will hold a strand of wire at the desired position on the post.To move the insulator on the post, it is only necessary to remove thestaple 2| at which time the hook 20 can he slid out through its openingII and the insulator can be moved down to disengage the hook l9 from thepost and permit its removal through its opening II. The insulator canthen again be fastened to the post at any desired different position orcan be removed from the wire as required.

While one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described indetail, it is to be understood that this is illustrative only and is notintended to be taken as a definition of the scope of the invention,reference being had for this purpose to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An insulator comprising a block of insulating material having anopening therein through which a wire may pass and formed with a slot inone side communicating with the opening, and a wire extending around theblock with its end projecting beyond one side of the block andterminating in hooks bent at right angles to the wire ends to lieparallel to the adjacent block surface and facing in the same direction.

2. An insulator comprising a block of insulating material having anopening therein through which a wire may pass and formed with a slot inone side lying at an angle to the axis of the opening, the block havinga peripheral groove therein, and a wire lying in the groove with itsends projecting beyond one side of the block and terminating in hooksbent at right angles to' the wire ends to lie parallel to the adjacentblock surface and facing in the same direction.

3. An insulator comprising a block of insulating material having atleast one flat side and an opening therethrough parallel to the flatside, the fiat side being formed with a slot lying at an acute angle tothe opening through which a wire may pass into the opening, and anelongated mounting member extending partially around the block with itsends projecting beyond the fiat side and terminating in hooks facing inthe same direction to mount the block with its flat side against asupport.

4. An insulator comprising a block of insulating material having atleast one fiat side and an opening therethrough parallel to the fiatside, the fiat side being formed with a slot lying at an acute angle tothe opening through which a wire may pass into the opening, the blockhaving a groove in its periphery in a plane at right angles to theopening and extending at least throughout all of its periphery exceptthe fiat side, and a wire lying in the groove with its ends projectingbeyond the flat side and terminating in hooks facing in the samedirection.

5. In combination with a fence post or the like having a series ofspaced openings therein, an insulator comprising a block of insulatingmaterial having one side adapted to be mounted against the post and of alength substantially equal to the distance between adjacent edges of apair of openings, the block having a hole centrally therethrough and aslot in said one side extending into the hole, and an elongated mountingmember extending partially around the block with its ends projectingbeyond said one side and terminating in hooks facing in the samedirection, the hooks being formed to extend through the openings in thepost with the hook facing outward from the block spaced from the post toreceive a wire fastener.

6. In combination with a fence post or the like having a series ofspaced openings therein, an insulator comprising a block of insulatingmaterial having one side adapted to be mounted against the post and of alength substantially equal to the distance between adjacent edges of apair of openings, the block having a hole centrally therethrough and aslot in said one side extending into the hole, the block being formedwith a peripheral groove in a plane at right angles to the opening andextending throughout at least all of its periphery except said one side,and a stiff mounting wire in the groove with its ends projecting beyondsaid one side and terminating in hooks facing in the same direction, thehooks being formed to extend through the openings in the post with thehook facing outward from the block spaced from the post to receive awire fastener.

PAUL A. SCHMIDT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 Number Name Date 149,762 Le Baron Apr. 14, 1874149,763 Le Baron Apr. 14, 1874 1,071,419 Hetherington Aug. 26, 19131,266,736 Wilson May 21, 1918 '50 1,291,139 Reese Jan. 14, 19191,705,584 Overstall et al Mar. 19, 1929 1,718,259 Scott et al. June 25,1929 2,163,954 Lucas June 27, 1939 2,396,512 Johnson Mar. 12, 1946

